Springfield Technical Community College - Yearbook (Springfield, MA)

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Armory Museum — 1966 AN attempt to recapture the years 1967- 1974 is a difficult task. Springfield Technical Community College has meant something different to all of the people who have studied, taught, or worked here during the last seven years. If the recollections of at least 15,000 people were to be compiled, there would be at least that many versions of what has happened here during those years. However, to go to the beginning is a logical step, for the history of the school is fact. STCC began as Springfield Technical Institute at Springfield Technical High School. STI offered post- graduate courses in technical subjects between 1962 and 1967. It was staffed by teachers employed by the Springfield School department and headed by Edmond P. Garvey. When the United States Government decided, in 1966, to phase out the Springfield Armory, a decision met with horror by many of the citizens of Springfield and called a disaster for the economy of the city, the property became the site of the newest institution for higher education in Western Massachusetts. When the move to the 54 acre campus was completed, Springfield Technical Institute became Springfield Technical Community College, a part of the Massachusetts Regional Community College System. Since that day in 1967, the growth of STCC has been enormous. When STCC took possession of the first three buildings, a great deal of conversion was necessary. While the buildings were structurally sound, they

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THE WAY WE WERE . . . CLASS OF 1974 YEARBOOK Springfield Technical Community College Springfield, Massachusetts STCC

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Officer ' s Club - 1967. Quarters 4 5, 1966 Building 27 - 1966. Buidling 20 - 1967. were hardly ideal classrooms. It was necessary to alter the buildings, and much of the altering was done by faculty members during the summers of 1967 and 1968. It is hard to picture the corridors and soundproof rooms of Building 20 today as the temporary rooms of the early days. It is harder still to picture the vast spaces left by the departure of the Armory machinery and equipment. However, 600 students and 42 faculty members had to be put somewhere, and the needed rooms were renovated and completed by the faculty and staff in time for the opening of the school year in September. The buildings echoed the sounds of hammers and drills and the crashing of some existing walls and the building of others. Since, even then, it was known that these were only temporary measures, the existing heating and lighting fixtures were left in place or walls were constructed around them. Because, in part, of the height of the ceilings and the long strips of fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling, the rooms were only walls, eight feet high. The ceilings were higher and the divisions between rooms perforated to accommodate the lights. Faculty and students of this period recall that it was quite impossible to be bored in class. If the subject being taught lacked interest, the student could listen in to what was going on next door. He could also eavesdrop on conversations taking place in the 3